11 January 2002 1457 hrs (GMT) 2257 hrs (SST) Jemaah Islamiyah part of a larger network with cells in Malaysia, Indonesia by S. Ramesh

The Singapore Government said Jemaah Islamiyah (JI or Islamic group) was part of a larger network with cells in Malaysia and Indonesia.

It reports to a Malaysia-based leadership structure, which is headed by a man called Hambali, who is wanted by both Malaysian and Indonesian police.

Meanwhile, the Singapore arm of JI is headed by Ibrahim Maidin and comprises various units which handle operations, security and communications.

Jemaah Islamiyah in Singapore is headed by Ibrahim Maidin, who went to Afghanistan for military training in 1993.

The members were recruited from Ibrahim's religious classes, but are not known to be active in any mosque.

The group appeared to be dominated by foreign elements and subscribed to their extremist ideology, and anti-American and anti- West agenda

The Singapore government said ISD investigations on the group started soon after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

A Singaporean of Pakistani descent, Mohd Aslam Yar Ali Khan was investigated.

The ISD suspected he had Al-Qaeda links but Aslam suddenly left for Pakistan on October 4.

At the end of November, ISD learnt that he had been arrested by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

Singapore is asking for Aslam to be repatriated.

The government also provided information on three operations cells of the Jemaah Islamiyah, which took charge of terrorist-related activities.

The oldest cell, Fiah Ayub, is led by Khalim Jaffar.

He is believed to have started exploring terrorist targets in Singapore as early as 1997.

Found among his possessions were a list of potential targets from over 200 American companies in Singapore.

There were also tampered Singapore passports, forged Malaysian and Philippines immigration stamps, night vision binoculars, and literature on bomb-making and survival techniques.

The cell was planning to attack a regular shuttle bus service carrying US personnel, and to bomb US naval ships in Singapore.

The second cell, Fiah Musa, took pictures of American aircraft at Paya Lebar Airbase in April last year.

And in September or October last year, the cell was approached by foreign elements to help bomb specific targets in Singapore.

These foreigners were known only by code names. Two of them came to Singapore in last October.

One, an Arab who calls himself Sammy, is believed to have links to Al-Qaeda.

The other, a Filipino or an Indonesian, called Mike is said to be a trainer and bomb-maker with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Assisted by cell members, they conducted video surveillance of several embassies, commercial buildings housing American companies and the Defence Ministry complex at Bukit Gombak.

Sammy and Mike also said they needed 21 tonnes of ammonium nitrate for several truck bombs.

In fact, they already had four tonnes of the substance in Malaysia.

They also wanted cell members to locate suitable warehouses as a secure site to build truck bombs.

The government said Mohd Ellias attempted to purchase 17 tonnes of ammonium nitrate through a a local vendor but was arrested before he could do so.

The third operations cell - Fiah Ismail - was formed after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

They conducted some preliminary observation of a few targets but stopped when they got wind of the ISD arrests.